Iona plays host to Fairfield at Hynes Athletic Center on Friday. It gets started at 9:00 EST and it can be seen on ESPN U. The Gaels are 5-4 against the Stags over the last four years. They lost 85-75 the last time they played (3/4/2012).

Iona is 2nd in the conference and Fairfield is 7th. Both teams continue to jockey for position. Iona has won five games straight.

The 32 points and 5 rebounds by Sean Armand helped the Gaels to a 97-87 victory over Canisius on January 13th. He contributes 5.8 rebounds per game in addition to his 18.9 points per game. For the Stags, Maurice Barrow finished with 10 points and 9 rebounds in the 67-64 loss to Niagara on January 13th. He contributes 3.3 rebounds per game in addition to his 8.4 points per game.

Iona has a statistical advantage over Fairfield in one significant area, scoring, where the Gaels have an edge over the Stags, 82 points per game to 62 points per game.

Fairfield StatSmack

Iona can actually jump, with more rebounds (36.0 per game vs 31.3 per game) than Fairfield this season.

Lamont Jones is ranked 6th nationally in points and 4th in the MAAC in assists.

Taaj Ridley is ranked 9th in the MAAC in rebounds.

It must sting. Iona has blown out Fairfield by 20 points or more on 5 occasions since 1997.

Iona is bigger. The average weight of the top 8 players on Iona is 200 lbs compared to 189 lbs for Fairfield.

At least you keep showing up. Iona has an average margin of victory of 10 over Fairfield in 41 wins since 1980.

Iona is a better free-throw-shooting team (79.8% vs 68.5%) than Fairfield this season.

Sean Armand is ranked 22nd nationally in points, 5th in the MAAC in rebounds, 4th nationally in three-pointers, and 8th in the MAAC in assists.

Diaper Dandies love us. Iona has recruited more McDonald's All-Americans out of high school than Fairfield (2 vs 0).

Iona has a better overall winning percentage over the last 30 years (0.554 to 0.475).